Attending the fourth annual AudioKarma
Fest, held on March 24 - 25, 2007 at the Plaza Hotel in Southfield,
Michigan, reinforced my feeling that the AKFest may just be the best
two-channel audio show in America. Yes, there are bigger shows with
more hardware on display, but none possess that close-knit sense of
community so prevalent at the AKFest. The makeup of exhibitors at this
year's Fest differed slightly from that of last year, with more dealers/manufacturers and proportionally less AudioKarma members. What didn't
change, however, was the lack of pretension and pushiness. Across all
aspects of the show, there was an atmosphere of camaraderie, and a
shared commonality of interest in music and musical enjoyment that was
truly refreshing.

This year, the AKFest organizers, led by Dave
"Grumpy"
Goldstein, augmented the impressive door and raffle prizes with a live
musical performance by Paul Miles, "The Blues Man." Miles, an
accomplished blues guitarist with seven albums to his credit, has
received numerous awards in the Detroit area. By all accounts, Miles
really stole the show on Saturday night, performing for more than three
hours and demonstrating his sublime finger-picking playing style.

Attendance at the AKFest seemed to be up this year, and
in some cases, this limited my ability to spend a lot of quality time in
some of the more popular (and heavily populated) rooms. I tried to visit
as many rooms as I could, and I apologize to those exhibitors I may have
missed.

As always, I would like to thank all the great people I
met at the show, especially Grumpy and all the other AKFest organizers
and members.

The first room I visited was that of Blue Circle. Gilbert Yeung, owner and head designer of Blue Circle, was showing off
his newest line of electronics, the SB series. Considerably smaller
than his full-size offerings, the SB series is designed for those music
lovers with budget or size constraints who don't wish to compromise
performance. The amplifier models, with their generally lower power
output specifications, lend themselves well to systems with
higher-efficiency speakers or where ultimate power is not required. First up was the SBH, Yeung's first commercial foray into headphone
amplifiers. The SBH, which retails for $1095, features an outboard
power supply and adjustable channel gain (balance) controls. In the
speaker-based rig, Yeung drove AudioKarma member Punker's vintage Altec
Lansing 9846-4A horn speakers with his 50 watt SBM monoblock
amplifiers. The SBMs include balanced and single-ended inputs, and
retail for $1998 per pair. Linestage duties were handled by the SPB
(priced from $495, depending on options selected). The SPB comes
standard with two line-level inputs and one line-level output, all
single-ended. Also on display in another room was the SBT, a tube-based
linestage ($1,695). The SBT makes us of two 6922 tubes, and includes an
outboard power supply and the premium Shallco stepped attenuator as
standard. Sources included a Sota Comet turntable with S300 arm, and a
Blue Circle BC501 DAC driven by either a Sony Carousel transport or
laptop computer files. Playing Yes' 90125 and Talking Heads'
Fear of Music on vinyl, the sound was very dynamic and open. I found
the system to be relaxed and musical, with excellent resolution.

On static display in Blue Circle's room was the USB Thingee, a USB converter/DAC that converts USB output from computer
sources for playback via one's stereo. Prices for the USB Thingee start
at $169 and are dependent upon output connection options selected. Also
on display was Yeung's prototype battery-powered linestage, dubbed the
"Sandwich Spread" preamp, and you guessed it—the electronics were
packaged in an empty (and presumably washed) plastic sandwich spread
container.

One last note—if you ever dine out with Gilbert Yeung,
be aware that he will eat anything placed in front of him. Anything. You
have been warned.

The second room I visited was that of Madisound. Madisound is a Wisconsin-based purveyor of raw speaker components and
finished loudspeaker kits, and is probably the foremost source for
speaker drivers and crossover components in America. Madisound's Larry
Hitch brought numerous driver samples and several finished
loudspeakers. One of the coolest things I saw all day was a prototype
all-in-one system dubbed simply the Adam Prototype. This one-box
solution contains one RCA source input, three channels of amplification,
two full-range coaxial speakers and a 7" subwoofer. Included are
several controls for volume, subwoofer level, frequency cutoff, etc. No
pricing was available, but the Adam could represent an excellent
alternative to other "lifestyle" products like Bose's Wave Radio.

Madisound was showing off three of its loudspeaker kits. First up was the Vifa Studio. This smallish two-way speaker ($495 per
pair in kit form with cabinets) includes a Vifa ring radiator tweeter
and 5" woofer on the front of the cabinet, and a 6" factory-tunable
passive radiator on the back. The Studio sounded quick and open playing
kd lang, and the bass was surprisingly extended, considering the size of
the speaker. Next was the Loki ($495 per pair with cabinets), which
features a full-range 7" coaxial driver. Rounding out Madisound's
lineup was the BK-16A kit ($650 per pair with cabinets), which mates a
6.5" full-range driver in a folded-horn configuration with an outboard
horn super tweeter. Driving the Madisound speakers was a TEAC CD player
and Fountek Altitude 3500 tube integrated amp. The Altitude 3500, which
utilizes EL34 output tubes operated in Push-Pull Pentode to make 32-watts per channel, is offered by Madisound for $1350.

The next room represented KR Audio, Renaissance
Audio and Escalante Design. The Escalante Fremont speakers
($18,990 per pair) were being driven by the mighty Renaissance Audio
Opus 2 power amplifier ($25,000), which utilizes T100 output tubes in a
push-pull configuration to produce 70 watts per channel in Class A. Dennis Dunseith and Bradley Smith of Renaissance Audio explained that
the Opus 2 is fully-balanced with no phase splitter and no electrolytic
capacitors in the signal path. A unique display on the front panel
provides information to the user regarding internal temperature, AC line
voltage and plate dissipation. A serial port on the rear of the
chassis allows this information to also be displayed on a computer, if
desired. A Theta DAC was used as source and preamp, with a modified
belt-drive CEC transport feeding bits to the DAC. On static display was
the KR Audio VA340 integrated amplifier ($6975), which combines a
solid-state preamp and a KR300BXLS tube output stage to make 20-watts a
side in Class A. Sitting and listening to the Theta/Renaissance Audio/Escalante Design system playing Rebecca Pidgeon, I noted a
presentation that was very open and clear sounding. The sound was
extremely uncompressed and immediate, with excellent soundstaging and
portrayal of depth, especially considering the less-than-ideal hotel
room setup.

ADAM Professional Audio of
Germany chose this year's AKFest to debut a new line of speakers in the
USA. Well-known and respected for their professional monitor speakers,
ADAM has turned its attention to domestic two-channel and home theater
applications with its HIFI series of loudspeakers. Per Jim Latimer,
national sales manager for ADAM, all models in the HIFI series feature
Accelerated Ribbon Technology (ART) tweeters, HexaCone woofers and
inch-thick aluminum front baffles for driver coupling. I listened to
the ADAM Pencil ($6000 per pair), a floorstanding model with dual 7"
HexaCone drivers and ART tweeter. The lower woofer plays up to 150 Hz,
while the top driver plays up to 1.8 kHz, where it crosses over to the
ART tweeter. Driven by a Bryston 4BSST power amp, Bryston SP2 preamp
and Marantz SA-11 SACD/CD player, the Pencil impressed me with its
excellent tonality, dynamics and soundstaging on Brubeck's "Take 5." I
thought the ART tweeters did an excellent job reproducing the air and
shimmer of the cymbal work. I'll be following ADAM's progress in the USA
with great interest.

Walking into David Michael Audio's room, I was met
with an onslaught of equipment. David Kasale and Paul Bittinger must
have brought the entire store with them. I saw speakers by Mark &
Daniels, Harbeth, Spendor, PMC, Sonics by Joachim Gerhard, and
electronics by Creek, Unison, Belles and Rega. I listened to a system
comprised of Harbeth's Super HL5 speakers ($4295 per pair) driven by a
Belles 28A preamp ($4500), Belles 350 amp ($3895) and Rega Saturn CD
player ($4295). Playing various XRCD sampler cuts, the sound was very
smooth, possessing the liquid and natural midband for which Harbeth
speakers are famous. The musical and lyrical presentation had me wanting
to stay and relax for much longer than I was able to.

Audio Dimensions were showing
off the venerable Magnepan MG 3.6 speakers ($4475 per pair). Jon Best
and Jay Turner of Audio Dimensions demonstrated quite effectively that
while Maggies like a lot of power, it doesn't necessarily have to be
solid-state. The Audio Research Reference 110 power amp ($10,000) did
an excellent job controlling the 3.6s with its 110 tube watts per
channel. The LS26 linestage ($6000) and PH5 phono stage ($2000)
completed the Audio Research package, while vinyl was spun on a VPI
Scoutmaster turntable with a Dynavector cartridge designed expressly for
VPI. As is the norm with Magnepan speakers, the 3.6s captivated me with
their natural midrange and spacious, life-sized imaging. I was impressed
by the sheer coherence and in-the-room presence of the system.

In the Audio Two room, I discovered what may
perhaps be the smallest loudspeaker I've seen since Radio Shack's
Realistic Minimus 7 of the 1980's. The Role Audio Sampan FTL ($900 per
pair) contains a single full-range 3.5" aluminum driver with underhung
voice coil, measures just 8" tall, 4" wide and 9" deep, and yet is rated
to deliver 40 Hz - 20 kHz response. How does the Sampan FTL deign to
make such claims? Well, for starters, the diminutive speaker
incorporates a genuine folded transmission line for extended bass
response. Driven by a Connoisseur CD-1 CD player ($3900 Canadian with
6H30 output tubes) and SE-2 single-ended tube amplifier good for 9 watts
per channel of 300B goodness, the little Sampan FTLs were dynamic and
surprisingly extended at both ends of the frequency spectrum. Playing
Rebecca Pidgeon, the speakers sounded much bigger than they looked.
Piano transients were just slightly anemic compared to larger speakers,
but vocals and acoustic guitar sounded full-bodied and robust.

In the Selah Audio room, Rick Craig was showing
off his Peridot floorstanding speakers ($4,400 per pair). Beautifully
finished in real wood, the Peridots feature dual SEAS 8" aluminum
woofers, a SEAS Excel 5" magnesium midrange and a Fountek ribbon
tweeter. Driven by a Fountek Altitude tube integrated amp ($1350) and
Music Hall CD25.2 CD player, the Peridots not only delivered outstanding
bass extension and midrange purity, but they were very quick and
resolving, with superb air around instruments. For the money, I was
extremely impressed. On static display was the Selah MF7 standmount
speaker ($495 per pair) with single full-range driver. Also displayed
was a prototype floorstander dubbed the Tuline (approx. $600 per pair in
kit form with cabinet plans), designed by Paul Kittinger.

Arthur's Audio had a
consistently packed room, and deservedly so, considering the wide range
of speakers and gear they were demonstrating. Jeff Miller and Dirk
Bakker brought the Final Sound 400i electrostatic speakers ($2990 per
pair) and S220 subwoofer ($1000). In addition to the Final offerings,
Miller and Bakker brought three Usher Audio speakers, the bookshelf
S-520 ($400 per pair) and X-718 ($1300 per pair) models, as well as the floorstanding CP-6381s ($3400 per pair). Electronics included a VTL
TL-2.5 tube preamp ($2250) and MB-450 monoblock tube amps ($10,000 per
pair) matched with a Chord DAC64 ($3200). Due to the ever-crowded
room, I was not able to listen critically, but what I heard from the
Usher CP-6381 speakers playing a solo drum cut astounded me with its
huge dynamic swings and sheer uncompressed power.

In the Marantz/Snell room, Scott Sefton
was playing the Snell C7 towers ($6000). The C7 packs an awful lot
into its narrow, floorstanding enclosure, including dual side-mounted
woofers, a rear-firing tweeter, tri-wiring capabilities and room
boundary switches for tailoring the frequency response to users'
acoustic environments. Connected to the C7s was an all-Marantz system,
featuring models from its upscale Reference line. The MA-9S2 monoblocks
($16,000 per pair) are rated at 300 wpc into 8 ohms and 600 wpc into 4
ohms. Driving the mighty MA-9S2 amps was the SC-7S2 linestage ($8000),
and sources comprised a SA-7S1 SACD / CD player ($6500) and TT-15S1
turntable ($1600). I felt the Snell/Marantz system successfully
captured the essence of Mark Knopfler's gravelly baritone, and the
imaging was first-rate on a solo acoustic recording of Pete Townshend
playing live.

McIntosh and Audio Classics
were showing off a complete McIntosh system including two enormous
prototype tower speakers containing nearly a thousand drivers apiece. Chuck Hinton of McIntosh and Ryan Kilpatrick of Audio Classics paired
the prototype speakers with a C220 tube preamp ($3300) and two 500 watt
MC501 solid-state monoblock amps ($9400 per pair). The digital source
comprised a MS330 music server ($5300) and MDA1000 DAC ($8000). Not
surprisingly, the big McIntosh system sounded effortless and dynamic. What did surprise me, however, was the sheer coherency and natural
timbre of the presentation, especially considering the unavoidable
near-field placement of the speakers. Also, I commend McIntosh for
playing their system at a refreshingly lower level than at previous
shows I've attended. On static display were some vintage McIntosh
pieces.

AudioKarma member Doc Brown (aka John
Fallows) was displaying a mix of vintage and current gear in his room.
Fallows drove Electrovoice Century 3 speakers with a pair of Red Rose
Model 150 monoblock amps, an Amherst Audio P-2000 preamp and,
alternatively, a Primare D30.2 CD player or Denon DP-51F turntable.
Listening to UB40 on vinyl, I thought the system was very lively with
good rhythm and dynamics.